Magia de Uma: Bali hotel built from 150‑year‑old Javanese joglo structures

Magia de Uma, a new hotel in Umalas, Bali, has been created from a series of 150‑year‑old Javanese joglo structures, the ceremonial buildings noted for their four central pillars and tiered roofs. The property’s founders, Jacopo and Rosa Sertoli, spent more than two years searching the area before choosing a site that overlooks rice fields.

The hotel comprises 17 rooms divided among a central building, a four‑bedroom villa and eight bungalows that blend historic joglo elements with contemporary interventions. Interiors feature Bangkirai tropical hardwood, teak or ironwood floors and vintage Javanese four‑poster beds, desks and sofas collected by the Sertolis, some upholstered in fabrics made from recycled plastics.

Polished cement or lime‑washed walls are hung with antique rice‑cultivation tools and works by local artists, including botanical paintings by Ketut Nugi and stitched canvases by Wiguna Valasara. The garden’s fruit trees and vegetable plot — mango, jackfruit, passion fruit, tamarind and rambutan among them — supply the restaurant, which offers traditional Indonesian dishes such as slow‑cooked beef rendang and ikan woku.

The spa occupies a joglo building transported from Java and contains a yoga space, a sauna, an ice bath and treatment rooms where facials and massages use products from the Balinese skin‑care line Boemi Botanicals.

Key Topics

Culture, Magia De Uma, Umalas, Bali, Javanese Joglo, Jacopo Sertoli